ENG-1966 — Page 111

76

PRIMARY PRODUCTION

and prices in 1966 averaged $8 for a pair of squabs. The total value of squabs marketed during the year was estimated at $3.6 million. The most popular types of table birds are the white or blue king crossed with the homer.

Local brown cattle and buffaloes are kept for work purposes and surplus stock is sold for slaughter. Chinese brown cattle are par- ticularly well suited to the local environment and management. The dairy cattle in Hong Kong are mainly Friesians and are kept in isolation on one large farm on Hong Kong Island and in smaller farm groups on the outskirts of Kowloon and in the New Territories. All dairy animals are regularly tested and must pass the single intradermal (comparative) test for tuberculosis. During 1966, pro- duction was about 13.5 million pounds of milk, valued at $1.20 a pound.

The Colony continued to be free from rabies and rinderpest. The incidence of foot and mouth disease was not serious, though there were some 230 outbreaks of a mild type in both cattle and pigs. About 1,650 cattle and pigs were inoculated against foot and mouth disease types 'O' and 'A', 39,810 pigs against swine fever and some 6,736 cattle against rinderpest, with locally produced vaccine. In all, 16,992,000 doses of Ranikhet vaccine and 1,639,500 doses of intra-nasal-drop vaccine were used for the prevention of Newcastle disease in poultry.

FORESTRY

The Agriculture and Fisheries Department is responsible for forestry generally, and for the direct afforestation of water catchment areas, protection of vegetation on Crown lands, assistance to village forestry, and amenity planting in catchment areas. Hillsides are predominantly grass covered, with a thicker cover of shrubs in some places and patches of scrub forest in remoter and less accessible areas. Thickly-wooded areas also occur where the vegetation has been protected against cutting and fire, as on Hong Kong Island and around villages. Villagers cut grass for fuel and this practice, combined with the prevalent hill fires of the dry season, has brought about soil erosion in many parts of the Colony. Villagers often have forestry lots on the lower hill slopes, but the trees, mostly pine, are generally so scattered and lopped that they rarely alter the barren aspect of the land.